4G LTE

While many were asleep last night, T-Mobile’s LTE network saw a nationwide outage. According to the company’s official Twitter, the issue was acknowledged at 12:31AM Pacific (3:31AM Eastern). Two hours later, at 2:47AM Pacific, they tweeted that they were back online. (more…)

After working with Verizon’s 5G Technology Forum, which is a group of global operators, parameters have been defined for 5G specifications in advance of future standards. To break that down in simple terms, Verizon has now outlined guidelines to test and validate crucial 5G technical aspects. This leads to compliant chipset manufacturing and a slew of other important developments.

To give you a sense of what Verizon is shooting for with 5G, end users will enjoy a wireless network that delivers several gigabits per second throughputs and single-millisecond latencies. Think of it like Google Fiber, but for your smartphone.

Verizon is releasing a 4G LTE Network Extender device this month for $250. Targeted towards those who live in homes not saturated in Big Red’s beautiful LTE network, or those who wish to provide patrons of their business with better Verizon coverage, this Samsung-made network extender covers a 7,500 square foot area, providing HD Voice coverage and 4G LTE data speeds for up to seven devices with an eighth channel reserved for 911 calls.

Designed for self-installation, setting this device up should be rather straightforward. Assuming it works the same as T-Mobile’s network extender, all one needs is a broadband internet connection and wall outlet for power. Once the device is activated, it works as its own little 4G LTE tower inside of your home or business, featuring Samsung’s “small cell” technology. (more…)

Verizon announced the lighting up of new XLTE markets in the US this week, bringing its total XLTE offering to nearly 500 markets. Included this week are towns in Texas, Missouri, Minnesota, as well as many others.

If you are a Verizon customer running on 4G LTE, then it’s likely you might already be on XLTE. To put it simply, XLTE is deployed spectrum to help bolster the carrier’s LTE offering in any given market. XLTE offers better speeds and up to double the bandwidth in high data traffic areas. Furthermore, many devices sold on Verizon’s network already work with the XLTE deployment, so customers don’t need to worry about receiving the benefit.

To kick off the week of MWC, Verizon announced this morning that they have begun pretty serious field tests for 5G, the next evolution in wireless connectivity. With 5G, as we have mentioned in the past, the goal is to push wireless connections that can handle multiple gigabits per second speeds and insanely low single-millisecond latency. Verizon also hopes that 5G will be able to handle “exponentially more connected devices” at a time. (more…)

Samsung’s Gear S2 Classic will soon be available as a 3G/4G model at carriers in the US including Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. The device should arrive as early as March 11.

With a 3G/4G connected experience (4G is HSPA+ in this situation, not LTE), the Gear S2 Classic is capable of carrying on text conversations, receiving/placing calls, sending/receiving emails, and being prompted with other notifications, all without a phone nearby. The watch has an embedded SIM that allows it to stay connected to networks as a stand-alone device. (more…)

This morning, OpenSignal released a new report that T-Mobile is quite excited about, because it mentions their network as “closing the gap with Verizon.” That’s a big deal because Verizon’s network is almost always at the top of the charts when we think of the best network in the wireless business. To celebrate this gap closing news, T-Mobile is kicking off a new family promo that gets a family of four onto unlimited LTE data lines for $150 per month. (more…)

AT&T announced today that they will make 4G LTE modules available for those looking to get into IoT or the “Internet of Things.” With these modules, made by Wistron NeWeb Corp (WNC), connectivity in IoT gets access to AT&T’s ever-growing 4G LTE network. (more…)

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